Text link ads are advertisements Nov16 '07
Recently I discussed the moral justification of using affiliate links, and how it's best to be transparent with your readers.
I noted my section titled "Advertisements," which contains various text link ads.
Today I receive an email from the company that sells ads off my site, and they offer this as a tip for making more money of ads:
Our advertisers don't like ad blocks that are titled "Sponsored Links" "Advertisements" "TLA" "Text Link Ads" etc. They prefer no heading but if you do use a heading please consider using an image not text and consider using something like "Recommended Sites."
Um, excuse me, but I'll use whatever heading is appropriate for the content beneath it. If the link is an ad, then I'll call it an advertisement. On the other hand, if I visit the site, and recommend it, that's another story. In that case, I may share it by writing a blog post about it - who knows. But if the link is clearly there as an advertisement, I'm not going to include it under a "Recommended Links" section.
I understand that advertisers want less transparency, in an attempt to merge relevant ads into the site's content, but I prefer not to fool readers. Maybe I am naive and perhaps I could be making more money, if I followed this advice.
Although something about it, I just don't like.
Categories: Advertising 
, Links
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is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago.
Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.
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Matt, you're absolutely correct to be transparent about which links are ads and which aren't. Of course advertisers want their ads to appear as org ... Read more.